The two Roman officers and the priest gathered their kitbags and stepped ashore. Cato stopped the optio in charge of the mooring party.

‘Where is the army headquarters?’

‘Who wants to know?’

Macro stepped forward to tear a strip off the optio for his insubordination but Cato raised a hand to stop him. They were wearing only their standard-issue tunics. Their armour, and insignia, were packed in their kitbags.

‘Prefect Quintus Licinius Cato and Centurion Macro reporting for duty with the Twenty-Second,’ said Cato and nodded at Hamedes. ‘This is our scout.’

‘Ah, my apologies, sir.’ The optio stiffened to attention. ‘You want the priests’ quarters, sir.’ The optio turned and pointed to the east of the temple complex. ‘Over there. I’ll have one of my men guide you.’

Cato nodded as he cast an eye over the optio and his men. Most were dark-skinned, like the natives. A few had the lighter skins of the Greeks or Romans. ‘Very well.’

Shortly after, they climbed the ramp to the ceremonial landing stage and the vista inside the temple complex opened up. Thousands of men were camped inside the wall, their tents aligned in neat rows stretching out across the compound. In the distance, towards the rear of the complex, lay the stables where the horses of the auxiliary cohorts, and the four squadrons of legionary cavalry, stood sheltered from the sun beneath shades made from palm fronds. A short distance outside the walls, between the temple complex and the city, lay the sprawl of tents belonging to the camp followers. This was where the soldiers could find drink, trinkets and comfort in the arms of women from the numerous companies of prostitutes run by seedy Greek merchants.

‘Impressive.’ Hamedes nodded. ‘I have never seen such a powerful army. The Nubians would tremble at such a sight. I could not guess at the number.’

‘The number is less impressive than you might think,’ Macro replied. ‘A legion has over five thousand men on its roll at full strength. But then, they never are at full strength. The auxiliary units amount to perhaps three thousand men. At best Candidus has eight thousand men to counter the Nubians.’

‘But surely, sir, the Roman soldiers are the best in the world? How else could they have won such an empire?’

‘There are soldiers and there are soldiers,’ Cato responded quietly.